Why Your Business MUST Be on Social Media

Creating an online viewing of your business for your target market and/or customers goes a lot further than only having a website these days.  There is the total footprint that makes the world of difference to your online presence. For example, having a presence on social media is critical to increasing your visibility, growing your brand and building relationships with your target market or engaging with your current customers to improve their experience in a positive way, that they’re looking for in a company.  So, as business people, we have to take a look at all of the reasons why your business needs to be on social media.

Reasons your business should be on social media

It’s free advertising

Social media is a network that is all about engagement, which includes liking, commenting, sharing, retweeting, etc.  It’s about getting the word out across a wide audience of people with the click of a button.  So, it serves as free advertisement when you use it correctly. Now, most of this “free” engagement requires time and time is money but it is worth it’s weight in gold, so outsource if you have to.

The more people who engage with the content that you put up, the more exposure that it gets, and the more potential people, thus clients, that it draws in to find out more about what you offer.  It’s free in all of your typical platforms like Facebook (learn how here), Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram and etc and several have their own paid/advertising platforms.

It promotes engagement between customers and your business

Back in the day before social media, a business wouldn’t be able to have much opportunity to communicate with a client outside of a sale.  Now it can be done through a chat, a comment on a post, or private messaging systems through these platforms.  It helps the customer and business communicate safely and comfortably for both sides, making it a powerful tool to help break down the unnecessary formal walls that can cause frustration and alienation in some cases. This in itself allows small businesses the ability to “compete” with larger businesses in that they have a presence on the internet when they may not even have a store-front – visibility!

Sets you apart from competition

Even if your competition is using social media to help market themselves, you can still totally set yourself apart from them by doing all that you can to make it a positive experience.  Create content that isn’t about sales, provide value. Share things that your audience would enjoy, that show you are human, like funny photos of staff, or photos that you can find that relate to your business.  Show the customer that you are there to engage with them, not push your own product or brand.  A customer is looking for a way to engage with a business online and if you keep the sales content to a minimum it will be all that more effective, and it will bring in more customers.  They don’t want to be pushed into a corner with over the top sales-related content.

Easy to succeed

The majority of modern day workers know how to use social media to a comfortable level and point.  Therefore, it’s great tool to use when a business is looking to succeed and draw in the right kind of attention.  It has user-friendly options and you can help make it a comfortable experience for all that use it on both sides of the social media profile.  If you do it right, you’ll find yourself succeeding in no time and for all of the right reasons. However, keep in mind that it isn’t your personal social profile and must be treated as a business account. So if you aren’t sure how to run your business social media, get help!

Uses popular tools and platforms

You and the customer may be comfortable with different platforms that you use but in the long run, it’ll be convenient as far as a tool and its engagement with customers.  It’ll be common ground for all using it and it will help you get your name out there – brand visibility.  Best of all, it uses informal language where it’s all about being relaxed and casual and comfortable.  Human nature!

Boosts search engine optimization (SEO)

The more you use your business keywords on social media, the better your chances to rank in social media and in search engines. Remember that your footprint is all about the total visibility on the internet.  This is great if you’re looking to make sure that you get a higher ranking legally and for all of the best reasons. If you do it the right way, you will rank longer and have less chances of being dinged by search engines for unethical practices.

Again, it isn’t just about the content that you post but includes when people tag your business, retweet something you posted, or other public sharing options.  This, in fact, is one of the biggest perks about using social media for your business –  when your posts go viral which further helps get your business seen and ranked better in search engines.

Helps keep clients coming back

Clients want to be wooed and appreciated.  They want to see that they matter to you, and that you would be upset if they left you to go to another company.  This is why social media is helpful in creating a bond with the customer in a professional setting.  Social media is focused on relationship building, both passively and actively in posts and comments on photos.  It shows that client or individual that you care about them and what you can provide them in services and products (read: value).

Some additional tips to make it worthwhile

So, now that you see why it’s just so critical to helping you get everything working just how you want it, the time is going to come for you to actually use it effectively.  Here are some great tips to help you make the best impression on your platform(s) of choice:

• Respond to every comment, even if it’s just a “like” or something similar.  It shows the customer that you’ve seen their message and care about what they said.
• Respond to questions or concerns politely and effectively, inviting them to message or call or email with the details.
• Don’t focus on sales, as has been mentioned already.  Customers don’t want to be reading through promotional material all the time.  Keep it to a minimum and focus on engaging with the customer as much as you can.
• Keep your language informal so that your customer sees that you as a company are relaxed and enjoying what you do in terms of your business as well as posting on social media.  It goes a long way. Further, it makes it easier to understand by all.

Bottom line

Hopefully you are good at what you do and you love it. So make sure that you share that passion with the people around you, your customers and potential customers, and it WILL help them see that you are someone they want to be associated with next time that they need your services or products. Remember, it is about relationships and creating that Know, Like & Trust factor.  It’s the way of the future, so get on board with it now and build up your presence as you get used to it.  It’ll show you positive results in the long run.

If you have any questions or comments, please don’t hesitate to contact me or leave your notes in the comments below.

~Kristen